Life is hard
by GloriaNerd
Summary: There's a new case for Peter and Neal. After a girl has been kidnapped and the parents were attacked. Neal and Peter have to find the girl, but then it goes wrong on an undercover. Will they be all right and what about the girl Attention: There will be some torturing and maybe a soft Neal. So if you don't like that, you're warned. Disclaimer: I don't own anything of White Collar.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: English is not my native language. Special Thanks to my great betareader sandgnat10.  
**

*Knock Knock*

"Neal, open the door!" Peter rapped on the door again. "Neal, if you don't open the door, I'm coming in," Peter said through the door. When Peter received no response, he took out the key to Neal's place and opened the door. "Neal!" Peter called.

Peter finally saw Neal lying in his bed. "Neal, get up. I'm not saying it again. We are already late."

Neal didn't move. Peter went to Neal's bed and turned Neal, so he was lying on his back instead on his belly.

"Wow! What happened to you? Have too much to drank last night?"

"Something like that," Neal said.

"Well, get up, because we've got a new case," Peter said.

"Can't I call in sick or something?" Neal asked.

"No. You're just out of prison and you didn't had to drunk too much," Peter said. "Get up and get ready. Now!"

"Yeah, fine. I'm up," Neal said. "Just let me freshen up."

After a couple of tries, Neal got to his feet and went to the bathroom.

Peter could see how Neal was staggering. In the bathroom, Neal took off his shirt. He looked at his belly and saw there was a big red-blue bruise all covering most of it. Neal touched the bruise and moaned.

"Are you okay in there?" Peter asked.

"I'm fine," Neal answered. Neal put on his suit and came out the bathroom and said, "See, I'm fine."

"We need to leave. We're already late."

Peter and Neal arrived at the office. They met Diana and Jones in the conference room.

"Good morning, Peter ," Jones said . "Welcome back, Neal."

"Thank you," Neal said.

"Morning, Peter. Neal." Diana nodded her head towards the two men. "We have a new case," Diana said. She passed out copies of the case file to her colleagues.

"Yesterday, around 2 p.m., a male, between approximately 25 and 30, attacked 2 people and kidnapped a 7 year old female. The suspect was been identified as Brain Fuller, currently on probation after a 7 year stint in Five Points." Diana paused a couple of moments, allowing her words to sink in.

"Why were we called in? This sounds like a case for NYPD violent crimes," Neal said.

"Usually it is, but the Locals think kidnapper was after this painting, " Diana said. She passed out a printout of the painting and its provenance.

Neal whistled softly. "Either Fuller has impeccable taste, or someone told him what to look for. This," Neal said, as he motioned to the paper, "this could easily fetch a half million dollars. The right person will pay well over that."

"That is more enough than reason to hurt someone. The two people he attacked are currently in comas. We don't know the condition of the girl."

"We need to find them, before he does something to her," Jones said.

"Any ideas on how to find Fuller?" Neal asks.

"According to this file, Fuller was arrested for the kidnapping and ransoming of a 20 and 16 year old woman. Looks like he got caught before he could do anything. After he was released, Fuller attended all his meetings with his parole officer," Peter answered.

"His former girlfriend said Fuller had a gambling problem; he liked to play high stakes poker. He played poker for years at the same place, until he was sent to prison," Diana said. "She thinks that, more than likely, he's started playing poker again. Probably in over his head to loan sharks. That is why he kidnapped and ransomed those two women before."

"Playing poker isn't too hard," Neal said.

"No, it's not," Peter said, as he grinned. "Getting in to these high stakes games are."

"It isn't for me," Neal said, as he returned Peter's grin.

"You can get into one of the games?" Jones questioned.

"Of course, I can."

You know what our suspect look like. Gain his confidence. See what you can find out. The games have a $100,000 initial buy in. We'll give you the marked bills. Maybe we can bust this operation while we're at it," Peter said. "You'll go in as Nick Halden, entrepreneur and art collector, who is always looking to buy. You don't care where or how you get your pieces, as long as you get what you want."

"Sounds good. Let's do this," Neal said.

"Don't underestimate Fuller. He's already proven that he will hurt people to get what he wants. He will do it again. He's dangerous," Peter said. "We'll be tracking you and listening in via the usual-"

"The watch."

"The watch," confirmed Peter.

Neal scoffed, "Peter, you know you guys need to come up with another way to track me. The watch, well, it's too easy."

"Neal."

After seeing the look Peter gave him, Neal said, "The watch is great."

"That's what I thought. Now, I'm going to do some paperwork. We meet back here at 8 pm. The games probably don't start until 10 pm or later ," Peter said.

Diana and Jones left the room.

"Elizabeth wants us to have lunch with her at noon," Peter said.

"I always look forward to seeing your lovely wife," said Neal, with a charming smile.

**12 o' clock...**

Peter and Neal met up with Elizabeth outside the FBI building.

"Hello, Neal, how are you?" she asked.

"I'm fine, now that I see you," Neal answered.

Peter rolled his eyes.

"Still charming, I see," Elizabeth smiled.

"Let's go get something to eat, I made a reservation at the restaurant," El said.

Neal, Elizabeth and Peter went to the restaurant and had lunch. Elizabeth didn't ask Neal about prison, because she didn't know how he would react.

"How's your first day back?" El asked.

"Good, I'm glad to be back,"

"I can believe that. It's good to see you back," Elizabeth said.

During the whole lunch Peter didn't say a word. After lunch, Peter said, "We need to go to office."

El said and hugged Neal. ""It was nice to see you, Neal."

"I'll see you again soon," Neal said.

"I know. You'll have to come to dinner soon," Elizabeth smiled.

Peter and Neal went back to the office, and between preparations for the poker game, did paperwork.

**_8 p.m…._**

Everyone met at the office and went over last minute plans. "Let's go," Peter said.

Jones, Diana, Peter and Neal headed for the van. When they reached the club, Jones took off Neal's anklet and Neal put the watch on.

"We'll stay here for surveillance," Diana said.

"Remember, don't do anything that will draw too much attention to yourself. Don't win all the time, because they'll think you are cheating," Peter said.

"Me? Cheat?" Neal said, innocently. Everyone in the van shared a laugh. "I'll try."

Once in the clear, Neal got out of the van and headed to the club. At the entrance, stood 2 security guys. They checked Neal for guns.

"Okay, your clean. You can go in," they said.

Neal nodded and went in the club. He saw the table where Fuller was sitting. Neal went to the table and joined the next game. He sat in the chair next to Fuller.

"Brian Fuller," the man said.

"Nick Halden."

"Well, Nick, let's see how good of a poker player you are," Brian said.

The cards were dealt. The first two games Neal lost, but the third game Neal won.

"I've to go," Brian said, suddenly. Brian left the table and went outside.

Neal had drank a couple of glasses of wine. His vision blurred and his belly began to hurt. As he was headed back to the van, he said, "Peter, I don't feel well." After those words Neal, fainted on the ground in the alley. A van came at high speed and stopped near Neal was lying. Two men picked up Neal, took off his watch, and threw him in the back of the van.

"That was easy," one of the man said.

Yeah, it was. Let's go, before his FBI friends get here," the other man said.

The van carrying Neal sped away.

**So what do you think of this beginning? Good or bad? Do I need to keep writing? Reviews are welcome, even if you don't like the story. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope you will like this chapter.  
A/N: There will be torture. If that is one of your triggers, you've been warned. Special thanks to my betareader **** sandgnat10**

The last thing Peter heard was a door closing and male voice saying that it was easy to kidnap Neal.

"Did they just kidnap Neal?'" Peter asked for confirmation.  
"I believe they just did," Jones said.  
"They kidnapped Neal right under our noses. We're two streets over," Peter said confused.

"We'll find him," Diana said.

"That's easy to say, but we didn't even see it happen, so we don't have any information on the vehicle," Peter said.

"We'll figure something out, boss. Maybe they have CCTV in the areas surrounding were Neal was kidnapped. If Fuller is behind this, we know he comes to play poker, so at least we have a start," Diana said.

Peter, Jones and Diana combed the alley for evidence and saw the transmitting watch, along with blood near it. Peter took out his gloves and put the watch in an evidence bag. He also took a sample of the blood, but he already knew it was Neal's.

"Let's go back to the office, tell Hughes what just happened, and bring this to the lab for evidence', Peter said, as he held up the evidence bags.  
"I'll drive," said Jones.

Neal started to wake up and moaned in pain. He was cuffed. His vision was still blurred, but he was able to make out a man there standing in front of him.

"Well, well, Agent Halden, if that is your real name, I see you finally decided to join us."

"Where am I?" asked Neal.

"Why would I tell you something like that? You are at our mercy, not the other way around," said the man, amused.

"Just for the record, I'm not an agent," said Neal.  
"Yes, you are. Your watch was GPS enabled and we were able to detect a transmission signal going to a Municipal Utilities van. You wouldn't have anyone listening in on your conversations, Nick, now would you,?" the man said.

"Oooh! Brian has partners, but you can't be all of them, none of you are smart enough to pull this off by yourselves," Neal guessed.

'Just shut up! You talk way too much," the man said and punched Neal.  
Neal groaned. As soon as he was able to gather his wits, he asked, "Where's the girl?  
"Are you blind or something? She's right over there," the man said, pointing to the corner of the room.

Before Neal could say anything, another guy came in the room and walked straight to Neal. Pulling out a syringe, he said, "Here. This will make you feel better,"

"Whoa! Whoa! What's that?" Neal asked, trying to back away from the man holding the syringe.

Syringe guy motioned to the other guy to hold Neal so he could inject him. "Something to relax you" He said.

The men zip-tied Neal and left the room that Neal figured was a basement. The young girl the man pointed to in the corner ran over to Neal.  
"Are you all right? the girl asked, as she peered cautiously at Neal.  
"Yes, I am. Well, I will be. Thank you. How are you?"  
"I'm fine. They haven't hurt me."

"What's your name?"

"Claire. What's yours?"  
"My name is Nick. It's nice to meet you Claire," Neal said.  
Claire was lying with her head on Neal's chest. Neal didn't mind, because he knew how scared the girl must have been.  
Both their eyes closed and they fell asleep.

*****"What happened?" Hughes asked.  
"Neal was kidnapped. He was off anklet, and we can't track him because they tossed his GPS-enabled watch," Peter answered.  
"Why is it Neal that always gets in trouble?" Hughes mumbled.

"Because he's Neal," Peter answered, grinning.

Peter went to the conference room where Diana and Jones were sitting.

"What do we have?" Peter asked.

"Nothing that we didn't guess, Boss," said Diana. "The lab dusted for fingerprints on the watch. They found a few partials, but so far the only matches are ours and Neal's. They said they would rush the DNA testing, but the blood type is definitely Neal's."

"Jones, any luck on CCTV?"

"None. There was one camera at a store that had an angle on the alley area, but it was out. Hasn't been working for over a month. The owner of the store said he's had a request for repair in to the company since it went out.

"Get with the repair company, tell them to get that camera fixed. It won't help us with our current problem, but you never know when you might need that information. OK, Neal said he didn't felt well before he was kidnapped," Peter said.  
"OK, maybe he was drugged?" Jones asked.

"A possibility, but we could just be dealing with a coincidence. I had to get him out of bed this morning, and he didn't look well to me then. I wouldn't have looked good if Neal didn't come in, since it was his first day back. I had planned on, if he continued to look unwell, to make sure he went home, stayed there, and took care of himself. He seemed fine later on, then he said he didn't feel well just before he was kidnapped," Peter said.

"OK, and …?" Jones asked, confused.  
"I know it doesn't have anything to do with the case, but I think Neal was attacked in prison. We all know Neal, if it was up to him, nobody will ever know he's hurt," Peter said.  
"Peter, I know what you're thinking right now, but we have to find Neal and not worry about what happened to Neal in prison," Diana said.  
"You're right," Peter said.  
"We've got the blood and watch at the lab. Maybe they'll find some additional trace and have the information for us tomorrow. The DNA testing will take at least 72 hours," Jones said.  
"We can't do much now, so everyone go on home," Peter said.  
"Good night," Jones and Diana said.  
"Well, I don't know if it's going to be a good one, but I'll see you both in the morning."

Peter left the building and drove home.

It was already midnight, but Elizabeth was awake and sitting on the couch.

'Hi, hun," Peter said, kissing El.

Elizabeth could sense something wasn't right. She leaned back, searching Peter's eyes. "Peter, what's wrong?"

Peter sighed. "Neal's was kidnapped-"

"What?" Elizabeth interrupted. "How did that happen?"

Honestly, El, I don't know. I just don't know. We were 2 streets from him. Peter paused, then continued, "He was there talking to me, then he was just gone. We couldn't do anything to help him."  
"Oh, hun!" Elizabeth exclaimed, wrapping her husband in a hug. "You aren't to blame."  
"I know El, but I still feel guilty. Right now there is not much we can do for Neal until we get the lab results."  
"Well, you know that Neal won't blame you. I just hope you'll find him soon, and that he is all right."  
"Me, too, hun. Me, too," Peter said softly, uncertain.

"Let's go to bed. You need to be rested, so you can concentrate. You'll be no good in helping to find Neal if you aren't rested."  
"I knew I married you for a reason."

*****  
By 6 a.m., Peter was up, showered, dressed, and driving back to office. By 7 a.m., he was sitting with Jones and Diana in the conference room.  
"Anything new?" Peter asked.  
"The lab said they would have some results up to us by 9 a.m.," Diana said.  
"OK, well, that is a couple of hours. Let's see what we can find out about where Brian Fuller was last night," Peter said.

*****"Wake up, Agent Halden. It's time to tell us everything you know," a man said.  
"Where's Claire?" Neal asked, not seeing the little girl.  
"Right there," said the man, as he pointed at the same corner as the last time.

Claire had a nasty scratch on her face. Two men grabbed Neal and took him upstairs. Upstairs the men put Neal in a chair and zip-tied him.

Neal looked around and saw a familiar face, "Brian."

"Nick. So nice of you to join us."

"Wish I could same the same."

"The quicker you cooperate, the better off you'll be. So, here's Round 1," Brian said.  
"Round 1? Round of what?" Neal asked, though he had an idea of what was going to happen.  
"Ah. A big mouth, I see. Well, let's find out for how long," Brian said.

Brian punched Neal. "'So what do you know about me?" Brian asked.  
"That you are a sick bastard," Neal answered. He really couldn't help himself.  
"Wrong answer. You know, that is a nice big bruise on your belly. I'm sure it's very painful," Brian said with a maniacal smile. He pressed on the bruised area, laughing as Neal couldn't suppress a wince. "I'll ask you again, what do you know about me?"  
"I don't know a damn thing about you! We just met at that damn poker game. I don't even know why you're keeping me here," Neal said.

Brian became angry and strangled Neal.

'Hey, Boss! Take it easy. You can't kill him, yet," one of the other men said.

Brian let Neal go, but kept punching Neal until he was unconscious.

**Please review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This chapter contains the off-screen rape of a minor child, torture, and and profanity. Special thanks to my betareader sandgnat10 who does a lot.**

As he regained conscious, Neal felt something dripping of his face. Claire sat next to him and gave him a concerned look.

"Are you OK? What did the bad men do?" Claire asked.

"I'm okay," Neal said. He didn't want to show how much pain he was in or how scared he was

. Neal felt his face; he could feel his face was bloody and swollen. It hurt when he touched his face. Hell, his whole body hurt.

"Did they do something bad to you?" Neal asked.

"No," Claire said, frightened. "They just said they will come back later."

Neal thought the little girl was cute and sweet. She was very polite and smart, just what he would want if he had a little girl. Neal vowed silently he would return Claire home to her parents, if they lived. With that thought, Neal smiled.

**_FBI Office..._**

"The lab results are in," Jones said.

"Any clues?" Peter asked.

"Nothing we didn't already know. There were no usable prints other than the ones that could be excluded as agents' or Neal's. The DNA was matched to Neal. I'm sorry," Jones said.

Peter sat with his hands through his hair and said, "We have no clues and the clock is ticking. I _know _Neal is in trouble and Fuller is behind this. Neal's kidnapping right after playing Poker with Fuller can't be a coincidence." Peter paused, then snapped his fingers, "We _do _have a clue...Fuller. We need to go - play some Poker."

"Uh, Peter, I don't take this wrong, but if Fuller was able to peg Neal as being undercover," Jones saw the look Peter shot him, but continued, "do you really think that _you_ could fool him? Also, I've played Poker with you. You can't play Poker. Sorry, Boss."

Peter was still giving Jones the stink eye, but silently conceded he was a terrible Poker player. "Do you have any better ideas?"

"I think we know someone who may be able to fool Fuller," Jones said.

**_Later..._**

"I don't understand, Mozzie. Why don't you want to do this?," Peter asked.

"Because my friend got just kidnapped after playing Poker with this Fuller person," Mozzie said.

"Come on, Mozzie. Fuller is currently our only lead to finding Neal. You want to help Neal, don't you?" Peter said.

"Yes," Mozzie conceded, "but I don't play Poker as well as Neal."

"It isn't about the game, it's about the person with whom you're going to play," Peter said.

"You still don't know how he knew about Neal. And let's be honest, Suit, you don't _really _know it was Fuller, Whether it was Fuller or not, what if, whoever kidnapped Neal, kidnaps me?"

"We can't guarantee anything, Mozzie. We will do _everything_ in our power to avoid what happened to Neal, happening to you. You won't be wired this time, but we were able to get a court order to eavesdrop. Hopefully, we can get Fuller's confession on record that way. We'll have eyes on the ground closer to the club, so we'll track you that way. And if you can text us your exact location. I know it's not perfect, but we don't have much choice. Moz, believe me when I say this, I think this is the best chance of getting Neal back."

"If I can help get Neal back, then I'll do it," Mozzie said with sudden conviction.

"Good. We'll pick you up at 8 p.m. Be ready," Peter said.

"Fine," Mozzie said.

"Oh, and Mozzie, wear something a little more appropriate, please," Peter said.

"You don't ask much from me, Suit, but all right, I'll wear something else. You would think that you didn't think that I could blend in," Mozzie said sarcastically.

"We will see you tonight then," Jones said and left with Peter.

"I hope this is going to work," Peter said, as he and Jones got into the car.

"Me, too. Who knows what they Fuller's doing to Neal right now," Jones said.

**_Neal..._**

The door to the room where Neal and Claire were held swung open. Fuller and two of his goons stood in the door. "Ready to tell me what you know, Agent Halden? I can go at this as long as we need to. I'm ready for the next round to begin. Very anxious, in fact," Brian said.

"Can't you get it through your thick skull? I've already told you, I'm _not _an agent and I don't know any thing about you, except that you are a sick bastard."

"Now, now, Nick. There are children in our presence. Watch your language," Fuller said sarcastically, striding over to Neal and punching him in the face. He motioned to the two goons, who started to drag Neal out of the room.

"Don't hurt him!" Claire screamed.

Brian refocused his attention on Claire. He leered at her & ran his finger down her cheek. He laughed when Claire reacted with fear to his touch and said, in an obvious false charm, "Such a pretty little Claire Bear. And so, sweet and innocent, too. Worried about the big, bad FBI agent. But don't worry; we won't do anything to him that he doesn't deserve."

"Leave her alone!" Neal shouted.

"Keep your damn mouth shut or I'll shut it permanently," Brian said. Fuller waved the goons on. "Take Halden upstairs. I'll be there shortly. I think I'm going to have some fun. You can get started if you want."

"Leave her alone, Fuller!" Neal screamed as the two goons proceeded to drag him out of the room. "I'll – I'll tell you everything." Neal's heart shattered into pieces. He couldn't believe what Fuller was going to do, but if telling him who he was would stop him from raping Claire, then Neal would confess. He would confess to stealing the Mona Lisa if he had, too. Hell, he would die to protect the little girl from that fate.

The two goons stopped dragging Neal away, as Fuller turned to look at Neal. Neal shuddered at the emptiness behind Fuller's eyes. Fuller just laughed. "Yes, you will tell me everything, Nick. Yes, you will." Fuller waved his hand and the goons continued to drag Neal up the stairs.

Neal wasn't sure how much time had passed from the time he was drug from the basement area upstairs. He tried to track the time, but between Goon 1 and Goon 2 deciding that he was their personal punching bag, and the heart rendering screams from the basement, Neal's mind blanked out. He didn't lose consciousness, _how he wished he could_, but he just wasn't _there_. Neal was brought back to the here and now, by water hitting his face.

"How is my agent doing?," Brian asked.

"First of all, I'm not an agent. Second, my name isn't Nick. It's Neal."

"I don't care if you name is Nick, Neal, or Nancy. You are working for the FBI and I want to know what you have told them about me."

"I haven't told them anything about you." It wasn't _exactly _a lie. "Where's Claire? What did you do to her?"

"Don't worry. She's still alive. I didn't do anything to her she didn't want."

"You're a sick son of a bitch, you know that? She is 7 years old. Why don't you let her go?"

Fuller just laughed. "I need her to get what I want. After that, I know some people, who know some people, who know some people, who have an interest in merchandise like Claire. She's a little old, so she won't fetch as much, but it would still be enough to start."

Neal shuddered. Fuller was definitely _not _the same man who went into prison. This Fuller was a monster. "You can't do that!" Neal protested.

"I have the power here and I can do anything I want. So, I'll ask you again, what do you know about me?"

"I've already told you, I don't know anything about you, only that you are kidnapping me and a girl who didn't do anything wrong," Neal answered.

Fuller glared at Neal in anger. "Wrong answer." Brian punched Neal very hard. "Next time, I won't use my fists. Tell me what you told the FBI."

"I didn't tell them anything!" Neal said, as he eyed the knife Goon 1 produced.

"Such a big mouth and you refuse to give me an answer," Brian said.

"I'm not refusing! I didn't tell them anything! How could I tell them anything? You kidnapped me before I could give them any information! Please, please listen," Neal begged.

Brian took Neal's arm and broke it. Neal screamed.

"Beg.I like it when you beg," Brian threatened and made several long, fairly deep cuts on Neal's chest.

Neal tried not to scream or beg for Fuller to stop. Fuller took pleasure in trying to make Neal beg and scream.

"Put him on the table and make him ready for tonight when I get back," Brian ordered, as he headed out for his Poker game.

_"Hurry up, Peter_. _Find me, please,"_ Neal thought.

**_Mozzie..._**

"You ready, Mozzie?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, Suit, I'm ready."

"Just a reminder -"

"Yes, yes, I know, I'm pretty much on my own, but I've got my cell phone with me," Mozzie said.

Mozzie stepped out the van and headed to the club. Two security guys checked him for guns.

"You can go in," one of the men said.

Mozzie went in the club and saw Brian at the bar. Mozzie went to the bar, sat next to Fuller, and asked for something to drink.

"Same for me please," Brian said.

"Come here often to play?" asked Mozzie.

"Often enough."

"Any base dealing?"

"Nah, man. This place is clean."

"Good. Good." Pretending to look around, Mozzie asked, "So, where's the Apple? I'm not interested in the small stuff."

"A man after my own heart. Join me," Brian said.

Brian led Mozzie to one of the smaller Poker tables. There were already 5 other players sitting around the table. The cards were distributed and the game began. Mozzie wasn't that bad. He won the couple of games, but his luck quickly changed. As the games progressed, Mozzie hinted to Fuller that he needed the money for a project.

"That's a lot of money for a 'project,'" Brian said.

"Well, it's not so much a 'project' as a thing. I collect 'things.' Paintings, antiques, sculptures. I don't care where it comes from," Mozzie said. Leaning close to Brian, he said, "And I don't care how it's obtained, if you know what I mean."

"I think I do. I also think I might have something you might be interested in. A painting or two."

"Two? I'm intrigued. Most 'sellers' only have one at a time."

"Well, I don't have the second one right now, but I'm working on getting it. Let's cut our losses here and I'll show you what I have. If you're interested?" At Mozzie's nod, Brian said, "We can discuss pricing after you've seen what I have to show you."

It didn't take long before Brian and Mozzie left the club and were head out of the city. They arrived at an old house.

"I have a couple of house guests, but don't mind them. They are only here as an ends to a means. Hopefully, they won't be around much longer." Brian smiled at Mozzie.

Mozzie hoped that the FBI agents on the ground were able to tail the vehicle without being seen. He was still going to send Peter the address as soon as he could, but Fuller scared him. "So, these paintings..."

"I have one in my possession. I am working on get the second. It shouldn't be too much longer."

"If I may ask, how are you going to procure the second one?"

"You don't worry about that. That's my job. Let me go get the other piece."

Mozzie took his phone and texted the address to Peter.

A moment later, Brian came back with a painting he stole from Claire's family.

"Wow! Gorgeous. I'm not usually into abstract, but I like this," Mozzie said.

"Yes, I liked it, too. Got it in my last job. This isn't the piece I was after, but it was a consolation prize. Along with their daughter," Brian said.

"Their daughter?"

"Yep. Fabulous little thing," Brian said, as he thrust his hips forward. "Ransoming her for the big kahuna."

Mozzie swallowed to keep from getting sick. "The big kahuna?"

"Yeah, let me show you. Mind you, this is not the piece I have in mind for you. This one is already promised." Brian pulled out a printout to show Mozzie. "But, I can get the sibling for this one." Brian tapped the abstract painting. "They actually come as a pair and are _much, much _more valuable in pairs."

"Ooooh! That is rare." Mozzie admired the printout. "You said you can get it?"

"Yep. If mommy and daddy don't want their little darling back, I have a back-up."

"A back-up?" Mozzie said, as he realized that Fuller didn't know that Claire's parents were in comas due to his savage beating; that an aunt and uncle had been the one's dealing with the ransom demands.

"A back-up," Brian said, as he led Mozzie into another room where Neal was strapped down on a operating room-like table. The only thing he could do was stare at the ceiling.

Mozzie didn't say anything, but he couldn't help but feel nauseous. "What did he do?"

"He's an FBI agent," Brian said, coolly.

"He doesn't look like an FBI agent." At Fuller's incredulous look, Mozzie said, "Well, since he is a suit, uh, I mean FBI, he deserves it."

"I like the way you think," Brian said.

Brian put some gloves on and smiled at Mozzie. "Let's have some fun. I still have the same question and I want an answer for it," Brian said to Neal.

"Please," Neal begged. "I've told you. They don't know anything. Just please let me go. Let Claire go. We won't tell." Tears were rolling over his cheeks. He was already in so much pain and god knows what Brian planning to do with him. He had to hold on. He thought he heard Mozzie's voice, even though he couldn't see him. If it wasn't a hallucination, and it really was Mozzie, then Peter wasn't far behind. He hoped.

Brian told Mozzie he could better wait outside, if he wanted. Mozzie wanted.

"Well, my new friend apparently can't stand the sight of blood, so I guess it's just the two of us. Much more intimate, don't you think[A11] ? Where were we? Oh, yes," Brian said.

"Please. Please, don't. It hurts." Neal was reduced to begging his captor.

"Since you won't answer my question, I guess I'll gag you so we don't have to hear you beg. I love to hear you beg, but we don't want to scare off our guest, do we? " Brian said.

Before Fuller gagged him, Neal gathered his wits enough to say, "You're nuts."

Neal's tears were like a dripping faucet and Brian's smile was bigger than ever. Fuller took a scalpel and made an incision in Neal's abdomen. Neal screamed, but it wasn't loud because of the gag.

"FBI!"

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	4. Chapter 4

**Special thanks to my betareader Sandgnat10**

"FBI!"

Brian paid no attention to the chaos surrounding him and kept slowly cutting Neal.

Peter shot Brian in his shoulder, causing the man to drop the knife he was holding. Peter ran over and untied Neal. Peter shrugged his jacket off and put it on the deep cut in Neal's abdomen.

"Neal! Neal, can you hear me?" Other than a moan, Neal was non-responsive. "Hey, buddy,you're safe now. Help's coming. Neal, can you tell me where the girl is?" Peter asked.

At the mention of Claire, Neal finally responded, "Claire? Basement...think." Neal fell unconscious.

"Jones! The girl is in the basement," Peter said.

The paramedics were finally allowed into the room. They quickly stabilised him for transport to the hospital.

"Can I go with him?" Peter asked.

"Of, course. You'll have to ride up front," one of the paramedics answered.

On the way to the ambulance, Peter quickly thanked Mozzie, letting him know that as soon as there was news on Neal's condition, he would contact him.

At the hospital, the nurses made Peter wait in the waiting room while Neal was examined, and eventually sent to the OR, and Claire was examined.

Peter had called Elizabeth, who rushed to the hospital.

"How's Neal?" El asked.

"I don't know." When his wife continued to just look at him, Peter continued, "It was really bad. That guy was really sick, twisted. Fuller was -" Peter stopped, unable and unwilling to verbalize what he had seen Fuller doing to Neal. "Neal may not survive this," Peter answered.

"It's Neal. He'll be fine. Eventually," El conceded. _Let's hope he makes it._

Peter and Elizabeth watched a doctor approach. "The family of Claire Morrison?"

"I'm Agent Burke. Claire's parents are in a coma here in the hospital and we have contacted her next of kin, but it will be some time before they are able to arrive," Peter said, showing his identification. "What can you tell me?"

"I'm sorry, Agent Burke. I'm not authorized to give you any information."

"Doctor," Peter hesitated, reading the name tag, "Grimes, you misunderstand. I'm in charge of Claire's abduction case. My team and I located her and one of my team was seriously injured in obtaining her location."

"Oh, sorry, Agent Burke. I-I didn't realize."

"That's OK," Peter said, meaning it was clearly not OK, but to get on with it. "What can you tell me?"

"First off, overall her health is fair, but considering what she's been through, it's surprising she's not worse off. Claire is slightly dehydrated and malnourished. She has a number of scratches and contusions of various sizes and in varying stages of healing. Many of them are consistent with defensive wounds. My guess is that she was hit, not severely enough to cause internal bleeding. The contusions will be painful for a while, but it's nothing life threatening. There was also evidence Claire was raped. We did a rape kit."

"Poor girl," Peter sighed.

"The on-call child psychologist spoke briefly with Claire. She will be referred for further treatment. The hospital social worker has been with Claire since she was admitted. As soon as her legal guardians arrive, she will be released to them."

"Thank you, Doctor Grimes." Peter wasn't sure if he should ask to see Claire or wait until her aunt and uncle got to the hospital. He decided that he should wait. Claire would probably be more comfortable with his questions when there was someone more familiar around.

Peter could see that Doctor Reed was hesitating. "Is there something else?"

"Actually, there is. Do you know a person by the name of Nick?"

"Nick? No, I don't think so. Why?"

"Claire is asking for a Nick. She said he was her friend and that the people that kidnapped her, hurt him."

Peter's face brightened. "Oh, she means my partner, Neal."

"No, she said his name was Nick."

"Nick was Neal's undercover name."

"OH! OK. Well, she's been asking after your partner. You can go in and speak with her if you like. If you go to the nurses' desk, they will be able to take you back to Claire. "

Peter and Elizabeth went to the nurses' desk and asked for Claire. "I'll take you back," the nurse said.

Peter and Elizabeth followed the nurse back to the exam room where Claire was laying curled up on the examine table. Someone had been thoughtful enough to give the young girl a teddy bear. The nurse left with instructions to Claire if she need anything to call for help.

"Hi, Claire. My name is Elizabeth and this is Peter, we're friends of Neal."

"Neal?" Claire asked, uncertain of her visitors. She clutched the teddy bear tight.

"Oh, uh, Nick. His real name is Neal," Peter said.

"He was nice to me. Is he OK?" Claire said.

"Neal _is_ a nice man," El said. She elbowed Peter when he snorted. "I don't know how Neal is. The doctors are still working on him."

"Claire, your aunt and uncle will be here shortly," Peter said.

"Where's my mom and dad?" Claire asked.

"The bad guys that took you, hurt them. They are here in the hospital," Peter said.

"What are you doing?" El whispered to Peter.

"Telling her the truth" Peter answered, perplexed at his wife's reaction.

"Are they going to be all right?" Claire asked.

"We don't know, sweetheart," Elizabeth said.

"Oh."

Elizabeth surprised and not surprised the young girl didn't cry when told her parents were injuried and in the hospital. Shock could do that to a person.

"And Neal?" Claire asked.

"We just don't know. He's here in the hospital, too. As soon as the doctors can they will tell us how he is," Elizabeth answered.

"Can I see him?"

"Not now, sweetie. The doctors are still with him. Maybe later," answered El.

"Will you stay with me?" Claire asked, clutching the teddy bear even harder.

"Of course," soothed El.

Peter made his way back to the nurses' station to let them know they would be staying with Claire until her relatives arrived. Less than an hour later, Claire's aunt and uncle arrived. Peter and Elizabeth left with promises to let Claire know when she could see Neal.

After another hour of waiting, the doctor came in the waiting room, "Family of Neal Caffrey."

Peter and Elizabeth both rose and met the doctor. His name tag read, Carter.

"How is he?" asked Peter.

"The good news is Mr. Caffrey didn't have any internal bleeding and there were no complications during surgery to close the wound on his abdomen. The wound on his belly was fairly extensive. As in most cases, the instrument used to create the wound was not sterile, so the wound was becoming infected. We debrided and flushed an antibacterial solution. The instrument used was probably dull, which caused the edges of the wound to be jagged, but I was able to pull it altogether. Mr. Caffrey also has a broken arm which was set during surgery. Other than that, he is badly bruised, especially on his face. Mr. Caffrey should fully recover, but he'll be sore for quite a while. He should be able to go home in a day or two."

"Can we see him?" Peter asked.

"Of course. A nurse will show you Mr. Caffrey's room," Doctor Carter answered.

Peter & Elizabeth were led to the ICU room where Neal was lying.

Before they entered, the nurse reminded them, "Remember, Neal just got out of surgery. He looks worse than it is actually is. Don't worry. There are a lot of tubes and wires, don't be scared. We are closely monitoring Neal, which is normal after surgery. If he continues to improve, most of the monitoring equipment will be gone by tomorrow morning. Five minutes."

"El, it's all my fault Neal's lying here. I don't think he'll ever forgive me," Peter confessed to his wife.

"It's not you fault, Peter, and Neal would never blame you. You have to know that."

Peter turned to Neal, "You're a great friend to me. I don't know a smarter guy than you. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

El said, "Peter, the nurse is coming. I guess we need to go."

"Yeah."

Both Peter and Elizabeth wished their friend well, with El placing a gentle kiss on Neal's forehead and Peter giving his friend's uninjured hand a squeeze. They made their way to Claire's room to update her on Neal. They were stopped in the hallway by Claire's aunt and uncle.

"Agent Burke, my name is Charles Ware and this is my wife, Sarah. We met at the beginning, when Claire was first abducted."

"Oh, yes. I remember. I'm happy that Claire has been returned home."

"As are we. We, my husband and I, wanted to thank you and the FBI for all that you have done for Claire."

While praise for a job well done was always nice, Peter was unsure of how to handle it, especially in the current situation. "Thank you, Mrs. Ware. I hope that your brother and his wife will have a full recovery."

"The doctors have been hopeful. Thank you," said Sarah Ware.

"We needed to talk with you about Claire, if that is OK?" said Charles Ware.

"Of course, why don't we find a quiet place to talk. Claire is OK, isn't she?"

"Under the circumstances, as fine as she can be. Asleep at the moment."

"By the way, this is my wife, Elizabeth."

The group found a secluded group of chairs in the waiting room.

"Agent Burke, I'm not going to beat around the bush. My family and I are currently not in the position to take in Claire until her parents recover. I wish we were, but we aren't. Claire spoke highly of you, your wife, and your FBI partner. I hesitate to ask this, but Claire has been through a lot. Yes, we know she was raped. Sarah and I are not comfortable placing Claire into foster care. We discussed this on the way over and private placement is the best option for Claire. She already trusts you..."

Peter and Elizabeth looked at each other in shock.

"Are you asking us to care for Claire?" asked Peter, somewhat horrified, yet honored by the idea.

At the Wares' nod, Peter and Elizabeth once again looked at each other. A silent communication passed between the two.

"We'd love to," stated Elizabeth.

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	5. Chapter 5

It had taken half the night, answering endless questions, filling out paperwork, and even a brief home visit by a caseworker from the private placement agency, but eventually El was allowed to take Claire home. The worst part was the tearful explanation, on all sides, as to why Claire couldn't stay in the hospital with her parents and was not able to go home with her aunt and uncle. By morning, Peter was sleeping in a chair next to Neal's bed.

"Peter?" Neal said, confused, voice barely a whisper. He wasn't sure exactly where he was or how he got there. Peter woke up, looking around, not sure what woke him. His eyes finally settled on Neal who looked at him through half-lidded eyes.

"Hey, buddy! Welcome back," Peter said.

"What happened?" Neal asked. The last thing he remembered clearly - "Claire! Peter, did you find Claire? She was there." Neal attempted to get up, looking for Claire.

"Whoa! Whoa! Just calm down, Neal," Peter said, trying to soothe the younger man. "Claire is with El. She'll be staying with us for a little while."

"She's OK?" Neal asked, trying to calm down. Calm his wildly beating heart. Neal accepted the cup of water Peter held out for him. He took a couple of sips, then handed the cup back to Peter.

"They let her go last night."

"Oh." Neal quieted for a moment.

"Neal -"

Neal interrupted Peter, "What happened? How long have I been here?" Neal finally realized he was in the hospital.

"Let me go get a nurse. They wanted me to notify them when you woke up," Peter said.

"No! Don't do that. I want to know what is going on, now."

"They need to know you are awake."

"No!" Neal said forcefully. "Your avoiding telling me something. I want to know what it is."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was thrown into a basement. Claire was there. Fuller – Fuller – he, um, he wanted to know what I told the FBI about him. When I wouldn't tell him anything, he started to -" Neal looked like he was going to be sick, but he continued, "he beat me. I tried telling him I didn't tell you anything; I didn't _know_ anything. Fuller kept asking me what I told you. I – I think I broke and told him I worked for the FBI. I can't remember. I'm sorry Peter. I'm so sorry."

Halfway through Neal's story, Peter saw the tears begin to fall.

"Hey! Hey! Neal, buddy, it's OK. You did good. Claire is safe, OK?"

"But -"

"But nothing. You did _good._"

"He cut me."

"I know, buddy. I know," Peter said, comforting his friend.

Eventually, Neal calmed. Peter pulled away from Neal, intent on getting a nurse.

"Wait!" Neal begged. Neal looked at Peter with puppy eyes. "Claire's OK? She's safe?" Neal asked, trying to reassure himself that he heard Peter correctly.

Peter looked at his friend. Neal was obviously hurting physically and mentally.

"She's safe and at home with Elizabeth," Peter said.

"At your house?" Neal asked, confused.

"Yeah, Claire's aunt and uncle were not able to take her in, and they asked if we would take her in," Peter said.

"Oh."

"Claire's been asking about you."

"She has?" Neal asked, surprised.

"She has. El said she would bring her by later in the day, if that's OK?"

Since the first time he woke, Neal slightly smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that." Something was bothering Neal, but he was unable to put his finger on it. He winced in pain.

"I'm going to get the nurse."

A few minutes later Peter came back with a nurse whose name tag read Carol. She checked Neal's vital signs and asked him questions regarding his pain.

"I'll let the doctor know you're awake. Rounds start in about an hour, but he left an order for additional pain medication. Don't worry, it's routine," Carol said when she saw Neal's worried look. "Until then, you need to rest." She patted Neal's leg. "At least try and rest, sweetie. I'll be right back with your pain medicine. OK?"

Neal could only nod.

It didn't take long for Carol to return with the promised pain medication and soon Neal was asleep.

Neal woke to strange voices. "- surgery was successful. There has been no signs of infection. The patient should be able to go home in 36 to 72 hours."

Neal startled when he felt hands on his abdomen. "Nonononono! Stop! Please! I'll tell you what you want to know."

At the sound of Neal's cries, Peter burst through the door. He saw Dr. Carter trying to calm his shaking partner. He rushed pasted several shocked residents to Neal's side. "Hey, hey, Neal -" When Neal recoiled from his touch, Peter tried again, "Hey, buddy, it's me Peter. Your safe. Your in the hospital. Your safe. OK? Your safe." Peter kept up the litany of words trying to bring his friend back to the here and now.

Finally, Neal stopped shaking. "Peter?" he said breathily.

"Yeah, buddy. It's me."

Neal took a deep steadying breath and tried to push himself up further in the bed. "Um, sorry. I don't know -"

"Don't worry about it," Peter said.

"I apologize for startling you, Mr. Caffrey. I should have realized, knowing the circumstances of your admission. I should have woken you," said Dr. Carter.

"It's OK."

"No, it's not, but thank you." Turning to Peter, Dr. Carter said, "Agent Burke, would you please excuse us. I'd like to finish up with Mr. Caffrey's examination."

Peter hesitated, but a nod from Neal reassured him Neal would be OK. "Sure." On his way back out the door, Peter noticed that the residents had left the room, probably at the urging of Dr. Carter.

Dr. Carter exited the room. "Agent Burke."

"How is he?"

"Doing as well as can be expected."

"Then what would you call _that_?" Peter said, motioning towards Neal's room.

"Agent Burke, you and I both know that under the circumstances, Mr. Caffrey's reaction is not unusual. It will take some time, some therapy, but I think he'll recover fully. If he continues to recover at his current rate, he'll be released in 36-72 hours."

"Good. Great. Can he have additional visitors? The young girl who was rescued with him would like to visit."

"We don't usually allow anyone under 13 in the ward, but I'll clear it with the nurses. It will probably do him some good. Just don't wear him out. The best thing for Mr. Caffrey is rest."

Neal slept off and on throughout the morning. Between naps, Jones & Diana visited giving Neal get well wishes from everyone in the office.

"Peter?"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Are you sure Claire is OK?" Neal asked while trying to eat the lunch provided to him.

"Why would you ask that?"

"You said El was bringing her here today."

"I did and she is. El called while you sleeping. She was taking Claire shopping for a few necessities, whatever that means. She said it would be 2 or 3 PM before they would get here. You'll have time for another nap."

"That's all I seem to be doing."

"If that is what you need to do, then that's what you do. You body was traumatized, it's going to take a while to recover." Peter paused a moment before broaching the subject he'd been avoiding all morning, "Neal, El and I would prefer if you stayed with us for a while. Before you say anything, it will be easier for all of us. Both you and Claire will have outpatient doctor appointments -"

"You said she was OK!"

Peter took a deep breath. It was now or never. "Neal, Claire was raped."

"Nonononono! You said she was OK! You said -"

"Hey! Neal, listen to me. The doctor's said Claire would be physically OK. She will have a couple of doctor's appointments to make sure she's continuing to recover physically. She will also have to have therapy. Same goes for you."

Before either Peter or Neal could say anything else, Peter's phone rang.

"Hey, hun." Looking over at Neal, Peter said, "Yeah, he's awake... Now?... Sure, I guess... You're done?... How much?... How much?! … If that what you need to get... I know... Yes, hun... I know... I'll tell him... Sure... See you then... Love you, too, hun." Peter hung up.

"El?"

"Yeah. She and Claire will be here shortly. Claire insisted on seeing you before they went anywhere else."

"She's a sweet girl."

"She is. El said Claire can't stop talking about Nick." At Neal's grimace, Peter, said, "We've tried explaining about your name, but I don't think she quite understands. Maybe hearing it from you, she might. But let's not worry about that right now. You need to rest until they get here."

"I don't want to sleep. I want to see Elizabeth and Claire first," Neal said.

"Neal, you need to rest. You don't want to go to sleep when they get here, do you?"

"No."

Peter just looked at Neal. Finally, Neal said, "Fine. OK. I'll rest."

One hour later, Neal was sitting up in bed, awaiting his visitors. The door opened, Elizabeth and Claire walked in.

"Nick!" The little girl launched herself at Neal.

**A/N: Review please. **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: A big thank you to my betareader sandgnat10**

"Nick!" Claire said excitedly as she pulled out of Elizabeth's grip and flung herself toward Neal's bed.

"Claire!" Neal said, not bothering to correct the young girl on his name.

Claire was stopped by Elizabeth, who had recovered from the shock of the young girl's quick escape and was able to stop her before she was able to reach Neal's bedside. "Claire!"

The young girl stopped and looked at Elizabeth with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, sweetie! You didn't do anything wrong. OK?" El said as she looked in Claire's eyes for signs of understanding. "Remember what we talked about?"

"Yes, ma'am. Nick, I mean Neal, is hurt. I have to be careful."

"That's right. If we aren't careful, we could hurt Neal."

"El -" Neal started to protest but was stopped by a look from Elizabeth.

Claire studied Neal for a minute before going over, her hand hovering over the IV line, she asked, "What's this?"

"It's an IV," Neal explained patiently. "It gives me medicine."

Claire's eyes went wide. "Does it hurt?"

Neal looked at his IV that stung. He hated the thing, wished they would remove it. "No, it doesn't," he lied. "The medicine makes me sleepy."

"Oh. Nick, I mean, Neal, thank you for saving me."

Neal didn't know what to say, except, "You're welcome. How are you doing?"

Claire looked down. She didn't want to answer her new friend.

"Hey, come over here," Neal said.

Neal patted the opposite side of the bed and scooted over a little on the bed, making room for the little girl. Claire went around to the other side of the bed. At Neal's insistence, she climbed up on the bed and sat next to him. Neal turned to face Claire as much as he could without causing himself too much pain.

He took her hands, made sure she looked him in the eyes, he said, "Claire, I want you to listen to me. What happened is not you fault. OK? It's not your fault. None of it was. Do you understand?"

It took a few moments, but Claire finally said, "OK."

"Good. I want you to remember that." Neal wasn't sure how else to tell Claire that he knew she was raped and that it was not her fault. "Now, Peter told me that you and Elizabeth went shopping."

"Uh-huh. Ms. Elizabeth got me clothes and some pretty hair ribbons."

"She did?! What color did you get?"

"Lots of colors. Red. Blue. Yellow. Orange. Green. My favorite is pink. See?" Claire said. She swung her head back and forth so that Neal could see the ribbons on both sides of her head.

"I see. They are pretty."

"Neal, did the bad man hurt you, too?"

Neal gulped. "Yes. Yes, he did."

"But you're going to get better, right?" Before Neal could answer, Claire continued, "The bad man hurt my mommy and daddy, but they aren't getting better."

El had been quietly listening to the conversation between Claire and Neal, but she could no longer be quiet at the young girl's statement. Elizabeth moved to the other side of the bed and took Claire's hand, "Oh, sweetie! Don't say that. Your mommy and daddy are getting better. The doctor said so. It is going to take a while, but they are getting better."

Claire turned to face El. "Promise?"

"Promise."

"So, is Neal getting better, too?"

Neal answered her, "Yes, I am. The doctor said I can go home soon."

"Today?"

Neal and El laughed.

Neal said, "No, not today. I wish I could go home today, but I'll get to go home in a few days."

El said, "Actually, Neal will be coming to stay with Peter and I for a while when he gets out of the hospital." She shot Neal a look that dared him to say otherwise. "Would you like that, Claire?"

"Really?"

"Really."

Claire leaned into Neal's side. Both were quiet for a few minutes, taking comfort in each other's presence. The only noise in the room was the quiet breathing of the occupants and the machines monitoring Neal's vitals. El heard the slight click of the IV infusion pump dispense Neal's next dose of pain medicine. She knew it would not be long before he would need to rest.

"Claire, we need to go so Neal can rest. We'll come back and visit tomorrow."

Claire nodded her understanding. She said, very quietly, "Neal?"

"Yeah?"

"The bad man hurt me, too." The confession was so quiet Neal almost didn't hear it.

"I know, sweetie. I know," he said, just a quietly. He hugged her to his side, despite the pain.

After couple of minutes, all the occupants composed themselves enough for El and Claire to leave for the day. El kissed Neal's forehead, once again promising to visit the next day.

Peter bade his wife and Claire goodbye. He could tell Neal was getting sleepy. "Neal, I'm going to go, let you rest. I need to go into the office for a while then I'll be back."

_**Neal...**_

When Neal woke up later, he was alone. The nurse came in occasionally and checked on him, usually waking him from a fitful doze. It was sometime after the shift change that the doctor came back by to check on him.

"Does it hurt when I put pressure on it?" Doctor Carter asked.

"Yes it does," Neal said painfully, "but it's nothing I can't handle."

"Well, I know you don't want to hear this, but I'd say you are a very lucky man. There are no sign of infection. Everything is looking good," the doctor said to Neal, righting the man's hospital gown. "I'd say you can get out of here, as long as you have somebody who can look after you, in a couple of days."

"Thank goodness," Neal breathed. He meant no offence to the doctor, but he hated hospitals. "Can I wear my own clothes?"

"I don't see why not. Just make sure they are loose fitting. You won't want anything on that incision."

"Sure thing."

"We'll leave the IV in, but I think we can switch you over to oral pain meds. If we can't control the pain or if you don't stay on top of the pain by taking the medication like you're supposed to, we will which you back over to IV pain medication."

"OK."

"I'm serious, Mr. Caffrey. You have to stay on top of the pain. If you are in pain, take the medication. Being in pain will only slow your recovery."

Neal nodded. "Believe me, I will. I'm not found of pain."

The doctor smiled. "Good. If you need anything, let the nurses know. Otherwise, I'll see you tomorrow."

Two more days passed for Neal much same way, visits from his friends, check-ups, _lots _of sleeping, and much to his dismay, a daily visit from a psychologist, just to make sure he was doing 'OK.' On the afternoon of the second morning, Neal was elated to hear Dr. Carter tell him he could go home. Peter came by after work and picked him up.

"You ready to go? El has dinner waiting for us," said Peter.

"God yes. The food here is terrible," said Neal.

"Good. I stopped by your place earlier today and picked up a few things you might need."

"_You _picked out clothes for me?" Neal asked skeptically. If Peter had picked out his clothes, Neal was going to have to ask Elizabeth if she wouldn't mind going back to his place tomorrow and get him some different clothes; Peter had terrible taste.

"Yes." Peter chucked, "Don't worry. El told me what to get. You don't have many clothes that will be comfortable with that incision, so El's going to pick up a few additional items for you tomorrow."

Neal blushed. He wasn't sure what was more embarrassing, Peter getting his clothes or El shopping for him.

Neal dozed on the drive to the Burke home. Every time Peter braked, hit a pothole, or took a corner too fast, Neal woke & hissed in pain. By the time they arrived at Peter's house, Neal was more than ready to go to bed and to take a pain pill.

They were greeted at the door by El, Claire, & Satchmo.

_**One week later...**_

"Neal, I'm so glad your home," greeted June. She guided him up the stairs to his apartment.

"Good to be back here", Neal said, relieved to be back in _his _home. Alone. By himself. Not being smothered with attention. Neal adored the Burkes, but when he wasn't feeling well, unless he needed something, he didn't want people to go out of their way to wait on him. He knew June would give him space, but that when he needed something, she or her staff would be there for him.

"I can believe that," June said.

"Can I ask you something?" Neal asked.

"Yes, of course," June answered.

"Peter is working, and Elizabeth has several events next week, so she can't work from home. I'm still on sick leave for at least another couple of weeks, so we, I thought Claire might be able to stay here while they are working?"

June beamed. Peter and El called everyday to update her on Neal's progress. They had, unbeknownst to Neal, already discussed the following week. She met the young girl when she visited Neal in the hospital and thought her sweet. It would do Neal good to have company during the day, so he wouldn't dwell on what had happened.

Peter and El had warned her that although Neal was well enough to go back to his apartment, he still experienced pain, headaches, and nightmares. If he wasn't occupied, Neal would dwell on his kidnapping. June knew that Neal was seeing a therapist. Peter given June Neal's schedule of appointments.

"Of course she can. She's lovely company. Samantha will be here next week. I'm sure they will get along grand. You go ahead a rest."

Neal smiled back, at least he thought he smiled back. It was hard to tell even though his face was less swollen than it had been. "Yeah, I think I'm going to bed. I still get tired easily and the pain medicine makes me sleepy. Will you please have someone wake me later? Besides making me sleepy, the pain medicine makes it hard to wake up. Most of the time, I don't hear the alarm," Neal explained.

"Of course, dear. I'll wake you up when dinner is ready," June said fondly.

"Thank you," Neal said.

Neal had been asleep for a little over an hour when the doorbell rang. June opened the door to find Jones holding the hand of Claire.

"Agent Jones, correct?"

Jones nodded.

"Claire, it's nice to see you again." June smiled when the little girl lifted her hand in a shy wave. She shifted her attention back to Jones. "Is there something wrong?" June asked, as she motioned them to come in.

"No, ma'am. Claire asked if she could see Neal."

"Neal wanted to get some sleep, but I think it would be OK to wake him. Just don't stay too long," June said.

"We won't," Jones said.

June led them up to Neal's apartment and knocked on the door. "Neal! Neal! You have company."

It took a few moments before Neal opened the door. "Thank you, June," Neal said.

"Not the person I expected to be with Claire", Neal said to Jones, as Jones and Claire entered his apartment.

Claire hugged Neal's legs as she entered. She whispered, "I missed you. I got scared."

"Missed you, too."

Neal turned his attention to Jones as he shook his hand in greeting.

"Claire was adamant about seeing you. Elizabeth dropped her off for a short period of time at the office. Apparently, there was an important client demanding a face-to-face appointment. Peter offered to watch Claire while Elizabeth met with her client. Peter said Claire wanted to see you, so here I am," Jones said.

"So you're babysitting for the day," Neal said.

"I'm not a baby!" Claire protested.

"I know you're not a baby. You are a brave young woman," Neal said with a smile. "So, what do you want to do?"

"Play Go Fish!" Claire exclaimed. "No cheating. Ms. Elizabeth and Mr. Peter said you have to play fair." Claire pointed at Neal.

Jones laughed.

Neal gave an exaggerated shocked look. "I don't know what you are talking about, Ms. Claire. I don't cheat." When Jones continued to laugh, Neal said, "I just make sure the odds are in my favor." Neal smiled.

"I'm going to win," Claire declared.

"Not if I can help it," Neal teased Claire. "Jones, are you playing with us?"

"Sure, why not."

The three played several games of Go Fish. Neal and Jones both learned that Claire was very competitive.

"Claire, next week you'll stay here with me while Peter and Elizabeth are at work. June has a granddaughter, Samantha, about your age and she'll be here, too. I'll introduce you. Maybe I can teach you a few things. I'm pretty good at art," Neal said.

"Yay!"

"Don't teach her anything illegal, please. Peter would kill you," Jones laughed and Neal smiled back.

"I wouldn't -" Neal said, genuinely shocked.

"Aaaaaah!" Neal screamed suddenly in pain.

"Neal, what's going on? What's the matter?" Jones asked. He was confused. Neal has been fine, OK, as fine as he could be under the circumstances, and then he was screaming in pain.

"Bad headache."

Jones knew that Neal was still getting headaches. He had never seen one, though and it was terrifying. With that thought, Jones remembered Claire. He looked around quickly and spotted her hiding on the other side of the couch crying.

"Neal, I going to get June, but first I need to calm Claire down. Will you be OK until then?"

Neal nodded. He wasn't sure he could speak. A rustle of clothes, and Neal heard murmuring. He assumed it was Jones and Claire. Time warped, and before Neal knew it, he was on the couch; and June was giving Neal one of his pain pills.

"Claire, we need to leave, so Neal can rest," Jones said.

"You're going to be all right, Neal?", Claire asked, timidly

.

"Of course, sweetie. It's just a headache. Remember I had them at Peter & Elizabeth's house. The medicine will help. When I wake up, it'll be better. I promise. I'm going to be all right," Neal said, softly.

"Okay," Claire said and gave Neal a kiss on the cheek.

Jones helped Neal to his bed. "Feel better, Neal."

"Thanks, Jones."

Jones and Claire left to go back to the FBI office.

Before she went back downstairs, June said, "Let me or the staff know if you need anything. I'll be right downstairs."

"Thank you, June."

"You're welcome, dear." June patted Neal's leg lightly before she left.

Neal closed his eyes slowly, but opened them back. He closed them again slowly and fell asleep.

**A/N: Please read and review. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hope you'll like this chapter. Soft Neal.**

It had been a long week for Peter. He hadn't made any progress on Borders case. He was sure the new leads Diana and Jones had dug up on the cold case would lead...somewhere. Instead, it seemed they were just chasing their own tails.

Elizabeth had events all week and was gone by the time he came home, and she was still sleeping when he went to work. She had been so busy, they rarely even had time to speak on the phone.

Peter had been left to care for Claire, which wasn't bad, but he felt out of his comfort zone. Neal seemed to be much better suited to care for the young girl. A couple of times, Peter would arrive at Neal's loft and find the two reading a book or playing a board game. Since Neal was not physically able to do much cooking, June had her staff cook for Neal, Claire, and even Peter. He had to admit, it was much better than going home and finding something or getting take-out.

Peter was thrilled he got to spend time with Elizabeth tonight, her client had cancelled their event at the last minute, but first he needed to check on Neal.

Getting ready to knock, Peter heard Neal through the door.

"No! Don't! Help! Help me!"

Not even knocking on the door, Peter entered. He found Neal in the throes of a nightmare.

His whole body was soaked from sweating.

"Neal?! What's going on?" Neal kept screaming for help. Peter kept trying to wake the younger man.

"Shhhhhh! Neal, it's okay. You're safe. It's just a nightmare." Peter repeated the mantra over and over until Neal finally woke.

"Wha-?" Neal asked.

"You were having a nightmare. About what, I can guess. Would you like to talk about it?" asked Peter.

"No, I don't. Not really," Neal said.

"Okay. I'm not going to make you, but you need to calm down. Take deep breaths," Peter urged, as he watched Neal struggle to get his breathing under control.

"I'm calm," Neal said.

"No, you're not. You were screaming. You're still shaking and trying to get your breathing under control." Peter looked at Neal critically. "Go get some dry clothes on."

Neal looked and saw he was sweating. He laid back down.

"Go on. Afterwards, you are going to take one of your sleeping pills." Peter held up his hand to forestall any argument. "I know you don't like to take them, but you need a few hours of uninterrupted sleep."

"No. I don't want to sleep. I don't want the sleeping pill either. I can't wake up when I take those."

"I know you don't, but you _need _to take one. You _need _some uninterrupted sleep."

Peter could see that Neal was about to protest again. Peter knew that the inability to wake up from his nightmares was fueling Neal's protests. He'd been there before and knew what it was like. "Tell you what, why don't I stay here with you for a while?"

"But Eliz-"

Peter interrupted, "Is cooking dinner and is planning on watching the Harry Potter movies with Claire. Not my idea of a guy's movie, if you know what I mean."

Neal chuckled. "Yeah, I do. Though, that invisibility cloak would be really cool to own."

Peter laughed. "Neal...I don't want to know."

"I'm gonna..." Neal said, his hands full of dry clothes, as he motioned to the bathroom.

"Yeah."

While Neal was cleaning up, Peter called Mozzie.

"Suit."

"Mozzie, look I need a favor."

"The person who receives the most favors is the one who knows how to return them."

Peter sighed. "Mozzie, now is not the time for quotations."

There was silence on the other end.

"Fine. Fine. I'll owe you one."

"Yes, you do. We will discuss payment later. What can I do for you?"

"It's about Neal."

"Why didn't you say so?" Mozzie interrupted. "Is Neal okay? What happened?"

Before Mozzie could get too riled up, Peter said, "Neal is fine. Well, as fine as he can be. Look, I don't have much time. Neal is having nightmares. Can you come over, stay with him?"

"Say no more, Suit. I'll be there in 20 minutes."

"Thanks, Mozzie."

Peter quickly hung up.

Neal walked out, dressed in dry pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt.

"Sorry about that," Neal said, as he sat down at the table.

"Not a problem," said Peter, as he handed Neal a glass of water. "For your pill." He motioned to the prescription bottles sitting on the table.

"Oh, yeah, right." Neal hoped Peter would forget the sleeping pill, but he wasn't so lucky. He quickly got one of the sleeping pills and took it.

"Look, Neal. Here's the thing." Peter saw that Neal was looking at Peter expectantly. "I know you don't want to talk with one of the department shrinks about what happened. The Bureau has gotten permission for you to see someone outside the Bureau."

"I don't-"

Peter interrupted Neal, "I know that you've been attending your appointments with Johnson, but I also know you aren't taking about Fuller in your sessions."

"Wha-?" Neal was outraged, well as outraged as he could be with as tired as he was. "I thought those sessions were private!"

"They are. Doc Johnson just asked me if you had talked to me about your time with Fuller. When he asked, I figured you hadn't said much. The doc didn't have to say anything to confirm my guess. _You _just did. You need to talk to someone. I don't care who. Me. Mozzie. June. El. Hell, I don't care if it is to the dog, but you need to talk with someone."

"No, Johnson's fine."

"Just think about it, okay?" After receiving a nod in agreement, Peter continued, "Why don't you go lay down? I'm going to go down and see if June's cook has any leftovers. I'll be back in a few minutes." Peter hoped Neal wouldn't notice the lie; he intended to catch Mozzie before he saw Neal.

"Yeah, I guess." In truth, Neal felt exhausted. He probably wouldn't even need the pill to take effect to sleep.

Neal was asleep before Peter even opened the door. Peter caught Mozzie, explained the situation. Mozzie agreed to stay the night, in case Neal needed anything.

Peter drove home. There was no one downstairs when he arrived home. He went upstairs and heard El singing. It came from Claire's room. Peter stood in the doorway and watched Elizabeth who was singing to Claire, even though she was asleep.

Elizabeth got up very slowly. She turned the lights off and partially closed the door behind her.

"The poor kid couldn't sleep because of a nightmare and my mother used to sing that song for me when I was little. It always put me to sleep," El said with a sad smile.

Peter smiled and said. "You would have been made an excellent mother," Peter said.

"And you, Peter Burke, would have been a great father," Elizabeth said.

"Speaking of children, I just came from Neal's," Peter said.

"How is he?" El asked, concerned.

"Like Claire. Having nightmares. He thinks by not talking about what happened, it won't have happened. The same with his nightmares," Peter said.

"What happened was horrible, but Neal has a lot good friends to support him. He'll get through this. It will take time, but he will get through it." "Let's hope he does," Peter said.

"He will. I know he will. So do you," El said, convinced.

Elizabeth and Peter went to bed.

_**The next morning...**_

Peter got up and went back to Neal's apartment.

"Neal! Neal!" Peter called, but nobody answered.

Peter opened the door. Mozzie was gone and Neal was nowhere to be found. Checking with Mozzie, Peter found that Neal had sent Mozzie away in the early morning hours.

"Dammit Neal!" Peter thought.

Peter went back downstairs and went to the living room where June was sitting.

"Do you know where Neal is?" Peter asked.

"He should be upstairs," June answered.

"No, he's not. Well, he was in the early morning, but he isn't there, now," Peter said.

"I'm sorry, Peter. I didn't hear him leave," June said.

"No, June. Don't be sorry. I don't know what's possessed him. Neal knows he isn't supposed to leave. He needs to rest."

"But you can still track him, right? After he got out of the hospital, you did put his tracker back on, correct?" June asked.

"Yes. Yes, I did. I didn't have a choice. It was either that or Neal continue to recover in prison."

June patted Peter's arm knowingly.

Peter called the Marshal's Office, gave his badge number, and Neal's tracker ID. "I need Caffrey's current position."

"40° 46' 27.79" N 73° 58' 14.25" W. Central Park, near the Bethesda Fountain."

"Okay. Thank you."

The person on the phone asked, "Would you like to request backup at that location?"

"What? No! No back-up. I have everything under control."

Peter could almost hear the person on the other end of the line rolling their eyes. He hung up with the Marshal's Office.

"June, I was able to locate Neal. I'm going to find him and bring him back. Please stay here, in case he makes it back before I get to him," Peter said.

"Of course, and Agent Burke...thank you."

Peter drove to Central Park. He parked his car as close as he could and walked very fast, _not ran_, to the fountain. He looked around and finally saw Neal sitting on the ground under the terrace.

"Neal?", Peter said uncertain, but Neal didn't move.

Neal was sound asleep, the remnants of the sleeping pill making the younger man hard to wake.

"Neal!"

Neal startled awake.

"Hey Peter. What are you doing here?" Neal sounded tired, like he didn't get any sleep.

"I could ask the same of you, but if you must know, I was looking for my CI who went missing." Peter smiled, showing Neal that he wasn't too mad. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in bed."

"I like it here. Always have. It's kind of romantic, don't you think?" Neal said.

"Yes, it is. That still doesn't tell me why you are here and not in your bed."

Neal glared at Peter. "Don't."

"Don't what?" asked Peter.

"Treat me like there's something wrong with me," Neal answered.

"Well," Peter said, not really sure of what to say, "there's something wrong. You were injured."

"I know that, but you don't have to treat me like I'm going to break. I'm fine or I will be. I was fine sitting here. I happen to enjoy being here. I just wanted to be outside, alone, by myself without anyone hovering, for a little while."

"Okay you can stay a little longer, but then you have to promise me you won't go anywhere without letting someone know where you're going," Peter said, finally understanding.

"I won't, dad," Neal said with a smile.

Peter looked at Neal with a very annoyed face.

"What? I thought it was funny," Neal said.

"I don't think so," Peter said seriously.

Neal finally broke down.

"It hurt., It hurt so much and I couldn't handle the pain. I just wanted to pass out. That guy was just insane. I don't even know why he did that to me. He sounded like he knew me, but I don't know how. I don't know him. I just want to know why. I can't breathe. Everything hurts...my head, arms, legs, belly, chest and my heart, " Neal cried, occasionally hiccuping his way through the stream of words.

"Neal, what are you talking about?" Peter asked, concerned.

"B-b-brian," Neal could hardly say his attackers name, "he knew my real name, but I didn't tell him my real name. At least, I don't think I did."

"Neal," Peter took Neal's face in his hands, trying to get the young conman to look at him. "Neal, look at me." Peter continued when Neal finally looked at Peter, "We took care of him. He's in prison now. And will be for a very long time, if I have anything to do with it."

"He raped Claire. Then just cut in me," Neal sobbed.

"Hey, I know. But you know what else I know?" Seeing the negative shake of Neal's head, Peter said, "You and Claire are both very strong. You're just going to be fine and Claire will too. It's going to take some time and it may be rough, but you'll get there."

Neal didn't say anything, so Peter took that as a tacit agreement.

"What about Claire's parents?" Neal asked.

"We don't know."

"What if they die? What will happen to Claire?" Neal asked.

"We will worry about that when the time comes. Okay? Now, let's get back home. June is worried about you," Peter said.

Neal didn't say a word and went back with Peter to the car. Peter drove with Neal back to June's house.

"Ooh, Neal! I'm glad your back safe," June said, as she hugged him.

"I'll take Neal back upstairs so he can rest," Peter said.

"Yes, thank you, Agent Burke. I'll be by later to check on you, Neal." June said.

Neal had already started up the stairs. Peter turned back to speak softly with June.

"I think he's a little bit depressed, but that's normal under the circumstances. Will you keep a closer eye on him?" Peter whispered.

"Of course, speak no more of it," June said.

Once upstairs, Peter said' "I'll come with Claire later, but you need to rest. El has a list of honey-do's for me to complete this weekend," Peter said.

"Lucky you," Neal said sarcastically. He knew that El would have Peter running ragged doing projects over the weekend.

Peter thought of his wife, who he missed seeing during the week, and replied with a soft smile, "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

"I'm not going anywhere this time. I ran enough," Neal said when he saw Peter hesitating.

"Yes, you did. Just remember, if you run, I will find you," Peter said, knowing that Neal would be right where he left him – in the loft – whenever he checked on Neal's tracking data.

Neal closed his eyes. After Neal fell asleep, Peter drove home.

**A/N: Well did you like it? Review please. **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So sorry it took so long. **

When Neal woke up, he saw someone was sitting on a chair at the table. Vision clearing, he saw it was Peter.

"How are you doing, buddy?" Peter asked.

"I've been better. I've been worse," Neal answered.

"Do you need something?" Peter asked.

"Maybe something to drink. My throat is really dry," Neal answered.

Peter stood up and went to get something to drink for Neal. While Peter was getting him something to drink, Neal was finally able to get up and go to the table and sit down. Peter brought Neal a glass of water. He gave it to Neal and sat down facing Neal.

"I think we need to talk," Peter said.

"About what?" Neal asked, suspicious.

"Prison," Peter said.

"What about prison? It's noisy, smelly, the food is terrible, the beds are hard, and the company is," Neal sighed, "deplorable." Neal narrowed his eyes, "Wait, are you putting me back in prison? What did I do?" Neal asked, scared.

"No, you're no going back to prison, and you didn't do anything wrong," Peter said.

"Ooookay. Then why did you me about prison?" Neal asked.

"I meant we needed to talk about your time in prison. The morning after you were released from prison, when I needed to wake you up, what really happened the night before? Neal, don't lie to me. I want the truth," Peter said.

"Like I said, I drank too much," Neal said.

" Neal, I said wanted the truth. We both know that is a lie. Were you attacked in prison?" Peter asked.

"Not in prison," Neal said.

"So, you were attacked." Peter asked, trying to understand.

"Yes, I was," Neal answered.

"By who?" Peter asked.

"In prison there was a guy, everyone called him Crazy Flip, 'as in flipped out,'" Neal shrugged with a _what are you looking at, I didn't name him, "_who hated me. I'm not sure why. I could guess, snitches are not very well liked if you get my meaning, but you never can be sure why. Sometimes it's just because of the way you look or they think you look. I didn't ask any questions, figured the guy was just crazy. Anyway, he said when I got out of prison, a few of his friends would be waiting on me. I didn't really him. He was just another of those crazy lifers. When I got out of prison and was back at June's, I went for a walk in the evening. Three guys came out of nowhere and attacked me. They said they would be back. I don't know who they are. I didn't get a good look at their faces," Neal answered.

"You already said you don't know who they are, but do you have any idea why they did that to you?" Peter asked.

"Maybe Crazy Flip wasn't so crazy. He said he would have friends waiting for me. Other than that, no, I don't."

"Do you think the beating has something to do with the kidnapping?" Peter asked.

"I don't know for sure. Crazy Flip's last name is Fuller. I was thinking it was a coincidence."

"Fuller is a common surname," said Peter.

"That's what I was thinking, but now I'm don't think so. I think Brian and Crazy Flip may be related."

"So what happened the night of the kidnapping?"

"It's all kind of hazy, but I know I made contact with Brian in the club." Neal saw Peter nodding, so he continued, "I started not feeling well. I had a terrible headache, and I know I went outside. I can remember intense pain, like someone was stabbing me in my stomach, then I can't remember what happened. Sorry," Neal answered.

"Don't worry about it. Thank you for being honest." Peter said. He could see that Neal was still pensive, "Look, you don't have to be sorry for anything. Okay? And, the Fullers, if I have anything to do with it, will never see the light of day."

"I know," Neal said, as he smiled slightly at Peter's protective nature, "but if Crazy Flip could get someone to beat me up one time, what is to say that he won't be able to do it again?"

Peter placed his hand over Neal's squeezing gently. Before he could answer, Peter was answered by a knock on Neal's door.

"Neal? Peter? It's June."

"Come on in, June," Neal called out.

"Oh, shoot. If forgot to tell you that June caught me on the way up, said dinner would be done," Peter looked at his watch sheepishly, "now and she would be expecting you downstairs." Peter looked over at June, "I'm so sorry, June. I totally forgot."

"No problem, Peter. I just came to check to make sure Neal was awake. Dinner is ready. Come down when you are ready, Neal. Peter, if you would like to join us?"

Peter blushed. "Thank you for the invitation, but I need to get home." Peter stood up, made sure Neal was steady on his feet when he got to his feet, "June. Neal, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, see you tomorrow," Neal said.

"Neal, I'll see you downstairs shortly?" asked June.

"Of course, just give me a few minutes to change into something more acceptable," Neal said, as he favoured his landlady with a smile.

June followed Peter out of Neal's apartment.

Neal showered and changed his clothes. He went downstairs where June was waiting for Neal.

"How are you doing?" June asked. She smiled brightly at Neal.

"Better," Neal answered.

"Good," June said.

Neal and June ate dinner. After diner, Neal went back upstairs and went to bed. He didn't know what else to do and it could be good for him to sleep.

*****_**Morning..**_**.**

When Neal woke up and looked at his clock, he realized it was still early, but he wasn't tired so he got up. He finished his morning routine. He wasn't as much pain as yesterday, so Neal decided a small outing was in order. He finished getting ready, went downstairs and left the house. Neal arrived at his destination and rang the doorbell. Elizabeth opened the door.

"Hello, Neal! Aren't you supposed to be at home?," Elizabeth asked, surprised, but worried.

"Not really. The doctor didn't say I was confined to bed. I have my medicines with me, in case I need them, and I wanted to do something," Neal said with a smile. He felt he effective disarmed all of El's arguments. He watched as Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, but she didn't say anything. Neal considered his arguments a success. Peter stood no chance!

El ushered Neal inside. He saw Claire sitting in the couch watching TV.

"Hi, Claire," Neal said.

"Hi, Neal!" Claire said. She ran to Neal and hugged him. After she hugged Neal, Claire went back and watched TV.

Peter sat at the table, reading his newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. Neal and took a seat across from Peter. He watched Peter look at him from over his paper and coffee cup rim

"I'm fine and I don't need to rest," Neal said, before Peter could say anything.

"Are you a fortune teller now?" Peter asked, as he sat his coffee cup down.

"No, but be honest, you were going to ask," Neal said with a smile. Seeing Peter's look, Neal thought, _"Score one for me!"_

Peter didn't know how to answer, as he started to go back to reading his newspaper. He'd give Neal that one. His phone rang interrupting him.

"Burke," Peter said.

"It's Jones," Jones said.

"Jones do you know what time it is?" Peter asked, as he shot a quick glance at Neal, but he knew the look was lost on the younger man.

"Claire's mother died about two hours ago. We just got the notification. I thought you would like to know because of, uh, well, with Claire and all," Jones stumbled.

"Dammit!" Peter cursed. "Jones, thanks for letting me know," Peter said and hung up.

Neal could tell something was wrong. "What's wrong?" Neal asked.

Peter motioned El and Neal into the kitchen.

"Claire's mother died a little while ago," Peter whispered.

"What?! Are you sure?" Neal asked, shocked. "I'm afraid so," Peter answered. "Oh, poor Claire!" El whispered to herself.

"Who is going to tell Claire?" Neal asked.

"I think it's better if she hears it from you." Peter said.

Neal looked at Peter shocked. This was not something he ever wanted to do. EVER!

"Neal, Claire responds better to you," Elizabeth said.

"But, I've never done this before-" Neal started to protest.

"Don't worry. Just be gentle, but don't lie. Tell her the truth. Okay?"

"Yeah, um, okay." Neal looked between Peter and Elizabeth, took a deep breath to gather his courage, and walked out into the living room.*****

Neal turned the television off and said, "Claire, I-I need to talk to you. Okay?" He continued, when the little girl nodded, "Claire, you know that sometimes adults say things, promise things, and that we try really, really, _**really**_ hard not to break those promises, but sometimes, we have to break them."

Claire just stared at Neal not understanding what he was saying.

Neal could see the young girl was not really understanding what he was getting at. He knelled on the floor in front of her. He took a deep breath and pushed forward. "Claire, I know we said your mommy would be all right, but sweetie, I'm so so so sorry. Your mommy died this morning." The only thing that Neal could think of was to wrap Claire up in hug.

"You all said she would be all right," Claire said, while tears were rolled down her cheeks.

"I know sweetie," Neal said, as he continued to hug Claire. "Remember what I said about adult sometimes having to break a promise, even though they don't want to break it?" Neal could feel Claire nodding her head against his chest. He held her out at arms length so she could see his face, "This is one of those times."

"Maybe we can visit your dad today," Neal said, as he pulled Claire tight against his chest again.

"I want to see him," Claire said.

Peter and El came out the kitchen. Claire pulled out of Neal's arms and went to Elizabeth. She hugged her and said, "Everybody said that my mommy was going to be okay."

"I know sweetie," Elizabeth said, almost crying herself.

"We've both got an appointment with our psychologists today. Maybe we could visit her dad after her appointment," Neal said.

"That is a great idea, Neal. Are you okay with that, Claire?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, but I don't want to go to the spychocolist," Claire said.

"Psy-chol-o-gist," Elizabeth corrected, emphasizing the portions of the word Claire mispronounced. "I know you don't like it, but you have to and I'm really sorry." Elizabeth wasn't sure what she was more sorry about, the psychiatrist or Claire's mom.

* * *

**I really want to thank my Betareader for helping me. Review please. **


	9. Chapter 9

"It all began when I went back to prison for the second time. Crazy Flip, that's what everyone called him, stole my food and in general made my life a living hell, but never laid a finger on me. It was just the usual intimidation thing he had going on. Crazy Flip seemed to take particular glee in tormenting me. I'm not sure exactly why, I can guess though -"

"And why is that, Neal?" asked Cunningham, the psychologist (from the approved list, of course) Neal finally decided on seeing.

"Because, I'm a CI. Nothing more than a glorified snitch," Neal said, snidely and self-depreciatingly at the same time. "In prison, snitches don't live very long. I'm pretty sure that Peter had to have asked the guards to look out for me or else I wouldn't have made it past the front gate."

"Does that surprise you?"

"That I made it past the front gate? Or that someone was looking out for me?"

" That Peter might have had someone looking out for you. All of the above."

"Yes. No. I don't know. Maybe. Even if he did, it didn't stop and couldn't stop Crazy Flip from trying to push me around some."

"Push you around?" Cunningham asked. He didn't call Neal out on his obvious diversion and non-answer of his previous question. That was another topic for another time.

"Yeah, the normal intimidation stuff. If he laid a hand on me, it would have meant time in solitary, which I don't think he really wanted. Anyway, the day before I was released from prison he said to me that he had some friends on the outside who would be waiting for me. I didn't really believe him, thinking it was another attempt to intimidate me. When I was released from prison, Peter drove me home. Later in the evening, I decided to go for a walk within my radius. Out of nowhere, these men attacked me. I couldn't see their faces. The next morning, I didn't feel good. I had a headache and my stomach was hurting from where I got kicked. Peter came to pick me up for work, but I really didn't feel like going to work. Peter thought that I drank too much the night before and had a hangover ," Neal told Cunningham.

"What did you tell Peter?"

"Nothing."

"You didn't tell him about the attack?" Seeing Neal's shake of the head, Cunningham asked, "Why?"

Neal was quiet for a moment. "I – I don't know. I guess, I don't want people to worry about me."

"Why don't you want people worrying about you?"

"I don't really know, because I don't want to bother them because there's something wrong with me", Neal answered.

"Neal, there's nothing wrong with asking for help from the people you love," Cunningham said.

"I know," Neal said.

"So, what happened next?" the psychologist asked.

"Agent Burke, Peter, needed me to go undercover and befriend a guy named Brian Fuller -" Neal interrupted himself. "What do you know about the case? About what happened?"

"Just that the man accused, has been charged by the State with kidnapping, assault, torture, and rape, just to name a few." The psychologist consulted his notes, "Ah, yes, it looks like the Feds want him, too, on charges of forgery, trafficking in stolen art, and child trafficking, again, just to name a few."

Neal started at that revelation. Peter hadn't told him that little bit of news. It was no wonder Fuller was so paranoid. It also explained why he was willing to do anything to learn what he thought Neal had told the FBI.

Cunningham saw Neal's reaction. "I take it, you didn't know all of this."

"Um...no, not all of it. I didn't know he was being charged with child trafficking. I just thought that -" Neal trailed off, not finishing his thought.

"Thought what, Neal?" prompted Cunningham.

"I thought that Claire was collateral damage from the burglary." Neal took a deep breath, "It didn't make any sense. Brian Fuller didn't have violent tendencies prior to that attack, at least none that anyone knew about." Neal was silent for a moment gathering his thoughts. "That means he was going to sell Claire..." Neal trailed off, visibly trying to keep from getting sick.

The psychologist could see that the young girl, Claire, already meant so much to Neal, and the thought of her being, well, sold like a piece of property, made Neal physically ill. This, too, was a topic for another time.

"Neal, why don't you continue to tell me about the night of the undercover operation." It was more of a statement than a question.

Neal nodded. "Okay. Brian Fuller had a nasty habit poker habit, so we knew where to find him. He had attacked two people, stole a painting, and kidnapped a young girl -"

"So, you knew going into this undercover operation that it might be dangerous and you were already injured."

Neal was quiet for a moment, "Um...yeah, I guess. I didn't really think about too much. We need to catch this guy and I had the skills." Neal waved off Cunningham's concern. "Anyway," Neal said, deflecting the conversation, "I made contact with Brian. I played a few hands of poker with Brian. All the sudden I started to feel ill. I thought it was related to my injuries. When I went outside, everything became blurry, and then I fell unconscious, I think, because I can't remember what happened next. I guess they kidnapped me. I mean, when I woke, I was in a basement with Claire, the girl that was kidnapped, and some men."

"You don't think you would have gone willingly with these men?"

"What?! No! Well, not that I know of. Not unless they said they would show me where Claire was, but why would they do that?"

"I don't know. Why would they?"

"I don't know. I don't think they would." Neal blew out a frustrated breath. He knew Cunningham was just trying to help him sort through what happened and his feelings, but it was still frustrating trying to put it and everyone's action's into words.

Cunningham motioned for Neal to continue. "They took me upstairs and Brian was there."

"So, Brian wasn't in the basement with you?" asked Cunningham, trying to get a clear picture of Neal's situation.

"No, he wasn't. They tied me to a chair. Brian said it was "Round 1." I didn't know what he meant at the time. I learned pretty quickly. He asked me what I knew about him, what I told the FBI, kept saying I was an agent. I kept telling him that I didn't tell the FBI anything, which I hadn't, and I wasn't an FBI agent. When I didn't answer the way he wanted, he would beat me. Eventually, I must have passed out. When I woke up again, I was in the basement and Claire was with me. I'm not sure how much time passed, but the goons came back a little later. Fuller was with them this time. Fuller had them take me back upstairs while he stayed downstairs. I heard Claire screaming. I didn't know what was happening but I couldn't help her. I wanted to, but I couldn't!" Neal held back a sob.

"Go on."It took a moment, but Neal composed himself enough to continue, "I was strapped down on a table, sort of like an operation table. I don't know how much time passed. I was too focused on – other things. Brian finally came into the room, but left to go play Poker. I think he did it to taunt me. When he came back, Mozzie was with him."

Cunningham was loathe to interrupt, but he needed to know who this Mozzie was. "Who is Mozzie?"

"Oh, Mozzie is an old friend. I guess Peter enlisted his help. Brian began to make incisions into my abdomen," Neal said. I don't remember much of it. I don't think I want to, either. Next thing I know, I woke up at the hospital, and Peter was there. That's all there is to really tell."

Once again, Cunningham referenced his notes. "Did you know that Brian Fuller was related to Crazy Flip, as you called him?"

"No! I heard his last name was Fuller, but that is a common name. There are three Fullers in the White Collar unit alone, so I didn't think anything about it."

"While you were in the hospital, did anyone besides Agent Burke visit you?"

Neal was confused by the question. What did it have to do with anything? Instead of brushing Cunningham off, Neal answered, "Yes, I had visitors in the hospital. El, Peter's wife, and Claire came by every day. Claire is temporarily staying with the Burkes until her parents – her father, are able to care for her again. Jones, Diana, June, and even Mozzie stopped by."

Cunningham was relieved that Caffrey had a support system in place. It was small, but at least it was there. "You seem to have a special connection to Claire."

Neal smiled, really smiled for the first time since meeting Cunningham. "We went through a lot together." Just as quick as the smile appeared, it disappeared. "Brian raped Claire I feel so guilty because I couldn't do anything to stop it. She's only 7!"

"Does she understand what happened to her?"

"As much as she can."

"How is she handling it?"

"Okay, I guess. Probably better than I am. I just hate that she was subjected to all of that. Claire is such a sweet girl and smart, too. Sometimes I think, she could have been the little girl Kate and I would have had, if Kate didn't die. Now her mother is dead and her father is still in a coma" Neal told the psychologist.

"Who is Kate?" asked Cunningham.

"Was," Neal stated simply. "Kate was my girlfriend. I watched her die in an explosion on the tarmac in the plane that I was supposed to be in when it exploded."

"How did you deal with Kate's death?"

"To be honest. It was hard. I wound up back to prison and I didn't even care, because I was so depressed. I dealt with it on my own, I didn't really have anyone to help me, but I had enough time in prison to think about it and deal with it. I'm still not over it, but every day it gets better and better," Neal answered honestly.

A small beep interrupted the two.

"I'm sorry, but it seems our time for today," Cunningham said. "The secretary will have your next appointment for you."

"Okay. I hope Claire is done, too," Neal said. "We started at the same time."

"Then she should be or will be in a few minutes," the psychologist said.

Neal shook Cunningham's hand, made his next appointment, then made his way down the hall to the office of Claire's psychologist. He only had to wait a couple of minutes before Claire came out and hugged Neal.

"Let's make your next appointment then go see your dad," Neal said.

After making Claire's appoint, Neal and Claire went to the hospital to visit Claire's dad.

Both the doctors and nurses said Claire's father was improving, and they were pleased with his progress. Neal could tell that Claire didn't believe it. After what happened with her mother, Neal couldn't blame her. Neal could only hope when her father was well enough and Claire was living with him again, that he could sometimes visit her. Or her him. Everyone liked Claire, even Jones and Diana. Jones really did, said she reminded him of his niece. He even volunteered to babysit Claire a couple of times, when Peter needed to do something really important and El needed to go to work.

One week later, Claire's father was still in the hospital but doing much better. Claire had started trusting Neal more and talked about what happened. Neal was the only one who really understood her and what happened. Sometimes she cried, but Neal was there to console her. Claire was a really strong girl and Neal was shocked at how well Claire was dealing with her situation.

A couple of months later Claire's father had recovered enough to return home. He hired help for himself and Claire. Soon Claire was living back at home with her father.

About a week after Claire moved back with her father, Peter and Neal were headed out for lunch when Hughes called Peter into his office. Peter sent Neal on to lunch, not knowing how long the unexpected meeting would take.

Neal came back from lunch and was faced with Peter. His face said 'this is bad, very bad.'

Neal looked at Peter and asked, "What is it?"

"Neal, I've really bad news. Brian and his brother escaped from prison."

* * *

**A/N: Review please. **


	10. Chapter 10

"What do you mean, escaped?!" Neal asked, eyes widening.

Peter grimaced. "Neal -"

"Escaped." Neal wasn't sure which emotion he was feeling more of, anger or fear. "How did this happen, Peter?"

"Basically, the same way you did. They walked out," Peter said.

"How is that even possible?"

"You should know," Peter admonished. "You did the same thing. Well, not the same exact thing, but close enough."

"Point taken, but I was alone, there's two of them – both of them escaped, right?" Neal said.

Peter nodded.

Neal sighed. "So now what?"

"Now, you're going to continue to do what you've been doing, continuing to recover, going over mortgage fraud cases." Peter held up a hand to forestall an argument from Neal. "No, Neal. You're too close to the case. Hell, the rest of the team is too close the case. The FBI lead on the case is Agent Jenkins. She said she doesn't want us near the case. Any of us. Jenkins is good at what she does, Neal. She will catch them, I promise you. They're also going to look at happened, so that when they do catch them it won't happen again. Okay, Neal?" Peter said with a concerned look.

"I need to go see Claire," Neal said.

Peter ran after Neal.

"Neal! I'm coming with you!" Peter said.

Peter caught up with Neal at the elevator bank. Occasionally, he heard Neal mutter over and over the words prison, idiots, walk, and again. Peter guessed that Neal was not praising the prison system.

Peter and Neal drove to Claire's house. They rang the doorbell and Claire's father opened. He was doing better and able to get around some, although they did have live in help and would continue to have help through his recovery

"Agent Burke. Neal," Henry Timmons greeted. "Did you want to visit Claire?"

"Actually, no, Mr. Timmons. I have some bad news," Peter said. "Although, I'm sure Neal would love to see Claire."

Neal nodded.

"Come in," Henry said with a worried look. "Neal, Claire is in the kitchen. Agent Burke, we can speak in the drawing room."

While Peter went to the adjoining room with Mr. Timmons to explain the situation, Neal made his way to the kitchen.

"Neal!," Claire said happy to see her friend. She ran to Neal and hugged him.

"Hi, Claire," Neal said.

Neal and Claire chatted for a few minutes. Neal knew it would be up to Claire's father to determine if they would tell her that Fuller had escaped.

"Please, take a seat," Henry said, as he sat down. "I can't stand for very long."

"I understand, Mr. Timmons." Peter sat on the edge of the couch, clearly uncomfortable with what he was about to say.

"So, Agent Burke, what did you need to tell me?"

Peter looked towards the kitchen area.

"Don't worry. Claire can't hear us," Timmons said.

"Brian Fuller and his brother escaped from prison last night," Peter said.

Henry didn't know what to say, but you could see the fear in his eyes.

"And Agent Jenkins and her team will probably be by shortly to speak with you -"

"They can't speak with Claire. I don't want her knowing about this."

"I understand. I don't think they will need to speak with her. Agent Jenkins is good at what she does. She will do whatever she can to help you and to keep Claire out of this."

"You know Agent Burke, I can't go anywhere without being scared. Now, there is this _monster_ that assaulted me and raped my daughter who knows where out on the streets," Timmons said.

"I can assure you, Mr. Timmons, the FBI is taking this very seriously and is doing everything in its power to find the Fullers," Peter said. "Right now, you can follow basic security precautions. Set your alarm, even when you're home. Check ID's. Don't go outdoors unless necessary."

"We already try to stay away from dangerous situations," Timmons said, "but we'll add the extra precautions."

"That's the best thing you can do right now," Peter said. Peter stood up. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Timmons. I know this is not what you wanted to hear -"

Timmons gave a wry chuckle, "No, it's not, but thank you for telling me in person."

"Yes, well, I guess, I should go say hello to your daughter and collect Neal."

If Peter thought it was a quiet drive to the Timmons' house, it was even more quiet on the drive back to the office. Peter was just mulling over the radio station choices when he found himself upside-down. He wasn't sure how wound up in the position, but he knew he needed to get out of it.

"Neal? You okay?" The sound of his voice was weak to even his own ears.

"Not sure. How about you?" came Neal's reply.

"Same here."

"What happened?" Before Peter could respond, a voice that Neal never wanted to hear again, interrupted.

"Well, well. Look what we have here," Brian said. "Get them out of that car and into the van."

"What do you want from us?" Peter asked.

"Revenge. You put me in prison and you are going to pay for that," Brian answered."Neal and Peter were transferred from the car to a nondescript van. Brian and his brother cuffed Neal and Peter.

"Where are you taking us?" Neal asked.

"To the port. I hear the water is nice today," Brian said as the van began to move. Brian took a syringe and injected Neal and Peter with its contents."Good night, sleeping beauties," Crazy Flip said.

"Good riddance. I'll be so glad to be rid of them," said he slipped into unconsciousness, Neal heard what Brian said and knew that this time he isn't going to survive. Nobody knew where they were. He tried to be strong, but tears flow over his cheeks. He didn't want to die.

Peter was as scared as Neal was, but there were no tears. His thoughts were of El. Who would take care of her when he was gone. Sure, she was an independent woman, but Peter liked to think of himself of taking care of her. If he was honest, it was usually the other way around. _"This is the end I guess,"_ Peter thought as a smile graced his face. His eyes closed peacefully.

**A/N: Review please. For the next chapter, it will take a little longer.**


	11. Chapter 11

"Diana, I'm going to need back up," Jones said.

"What's wrong?" Diana asked.

"Fuller's got Neal and Peter."

"How do you know that?"

"Peter called and asked me if I would sit on the Timmons house until Agent Jenkins got there. I was on my way there but got caught up in traffic. It took a while, but I finally came across, the Taurus was lying up-side-down. It must have been what was causing the traffic tie-up. Some witnesses said a black van hit the Taurus and two men pulled Neal and Peter out, taking them away in the van. One of the witnesses was able to give me a partial plate...JGH 59. They didn't get the last number."

"I'm on it."

Diana quickly put out an BOLO for Peter and Neal, APB's were already out on the Fuller brothers. Diana entered the information Jones gave her into the DMV stolen vehicle database and recent police action reports. Diana sighed when the information popped up.

"The black 2000 Ford Econoline van is registered to The Winters Construction Company. It was reported stolen along with a bunch of tools from a locked site sometime between 7 p.m. last night and 5 a.m. this morning."

"Damn!"

"Yeah. Any idea where they might have been headed?"

"The witnesses said they were headed southeast."

"Southeast. Southeast. Southeast," Diana mumbled, as she pulled up live traffic cams in the city. "Jones, I'll give you a call back as soon as I have something."

"Sure. I'll start heading southeast. Maybe I'll run into them," Jones said.

"Let me know if you find anything."

Diana disconnected the call. She motioned over a couple of additional agents to help her look through the multiple camera angles. Extra eyes were always a plus.

"Agent Barrigan!" Agent Turner exclaimed, as he pointed to one of the 9 squares on his monitor. "I think I've got it!"

As Diana came over, Turner pulled the camera view in question up to full view. After a quick confirmation of the plates, Diana congratulated the agent.

"Turner, keep on that van. Can you tell where it's going?" Diana asked.

Diana called Jones. "Hey, yeah, they're still headed southeast. They are currently on..."

"They're on the Brooklyn Bridge," finished Turner.

"You got that Jones?" asked Diana.

Apparently, Jones did hear Turner.

"Yeah, I think they may be headed to the Waterfront District, too. I'm headed that direction. Agent Turner will keep us up to date."

Diana disconnected the call.

"Agent Turner, I want to know as soon as that van is off the bridge. I want constant updates. Also, let the NYPD over in Brooklyn know what is going on and not to engage the suspects until we get there."

"Will do."

The van stopped at the port just feet away from the water's edge. With the help of Agent Turner and a lot of luck, Jones had been able to catch up with the van but kept his distance and trailed the van to water's edge. Jones made sure to stay far enough back and hid the car behind a big container. He took out his phone and dialled Diana.

"Yeah, they're at the Waterfront District, just like we thought. I'm at," Clinton looked around to orientate himself, "the north end of the Red Hook Container Terminal. Yeah, I'm out of sight. They are on the south end. Yeah. Yeah," Jones said and hung up.

Jones had to smile. Despite Diana's tough exterior, she did really care about people. She had told him to be careful, not get shot, and get their boss and CI back in one piece.

Clinton cautiously made his way down to the southern portion of the pier. He saw Brian and his brother pulling Neal and Peter out of the van and throwing them over their shoulders. Jones could see Brian's mouth moving, but didn't hear anything.

"_Oh no! They are going to throw them in the water,"_ Jones thought. The Fullers threw Neal and Peter in the water before Jones could stop them. "FBI! Don't move!" Jones yelled from his position. "Put your hands up!"

"Sure," Brian said. "But you might want to hurry up and arrest us before your friends drown." Brian looked back over his shoulder, "Yep. Better hurry."

Jones was torn. He had a duty to arrest the bad guy, but Peter and Neal were his friends; he couldn't let them die. In the distance, Jones heard sirens. The sirens came closer. His decision made, Jones dove into the murky water just as Neal slipped below the surface. Jones quickly pulled Neal up, wrapped an arm under Neal's chin, and did the same with his other arm for Peter. Jones hoped help got there soon. He wasn't sure if Neal or Peter was breathing.

Shots rang out and it startled Jones out of the zone he had gone into trying to keep them all afloat and ignoring the cold water. It wasn't long after before a rescue diver was helping Jones lift Neal and Peter into the waiting arms of EMTs.

"You are lucky we thought about checking the water," Diana tried to joke.

Jones gave her a half-smile for the attempt. Neal, Peter, and Jones were stabilized for transport to the hospital.

_**At the hospital...**_

Once the doctor had been in to examine him, Jones had been allowed to visit Peter and Neal. All three of them were showing signs of a chest infection, possibly even pneumonia, from being in the water. With Peter and Neal it was worse, they had inhaled some of the water. Neal hadn't been breathing when they got him on shore, but the EMT's were quickly able to restart his breathing. Neal was being closely monitored for signs of secondary drowning.

"Be strong," Jones said to Neal. Neal probably didn't hear him, but he could try. Neal was maybe an ex-con, but in a weird way, he became part of the FBI family. Neal had been through a lot and now this. He didn't deserve this. Nobody did. It didn't take much longer for Elizabeth Burke to make her way to the hospital and to her husband's side which is where she found Jones. Jones felt guilty he didn't even think about calling her. He assumed Diana made the call.

"Oh, sweetie!" El exclaimed, as she leaned over and kissed his forehead, trying to avoid the tubes and wires. "How are you doing Clinton?" El asked the other agent.

"Okay, they said that I can probably go home tomorrow."

"That's good."

Before Elizabeth could ask any more questions, the doctor walked in and gave her an update. Much to her and Jones' relief, Peter would probably be off the ventilator within the next few hours. They were just being cautious. For Neal, the prognosis was just as good but just a little more prolonged. "Agent Jones, I think it is now time for you to rest," the doctor suggested gently.

Jones was joined by Elizabeth and Diana in his room.

"What happened?" Elizabeth asked, her curiosity of what happened finally overcoming her anger.

"Brian Fuller -" Diana started but was interrupted.

"Brian Fuller? The man that kidnapped Neal and Claire?"

"The same," said Diana. Brian Fuller and his brother escaped. They kidnapped Peter and Neal on the way back from informing Mr. Timmons of the escape. The Fuller brothers then drugged both Neal and Peter and threw them off the pier."

Elizabeth didn't know what to say and kept strong.

"Jones...he was a true hero," said Diana.

"A hero who catches a pneumonia," Jones said.

Diana ignored Jones' interruption. "He jumped into the water and saved their lives, otherwise they would've drowned."

Diana saw the increasingly distressed look on Elizabeth's face and reached over and took her hand. "Everything is going to be okay. They're all strong. The doctor said everyone will make a full recovery. Jones here will even recover from his hero complex," Diana said as she winked at Jones.

"I know," Elizabeth said as she laughed slightly at Diana's attempt at humor.

Jones, at the same time, said, "Hey!"

"Well, thank you, Mr. Hero," said Elizabeth. "I guess I will let you get some rest. The doctor said I can stay with Peter tonight."

"Yeah, I'd better go, too," said Diana. "I'll check on you tomorrow."

"Wait! Before you go, did you arrest Brian and his brother," Jones asked.

"No-" Diana said. "No?!" came the duel shout from Elizabeth and Jones.

"No. They tried to run. Considering their history, they were considered armed and dangerous. The NYPD, shot them. They were DOA."

"Oh." It was the only thing that El could think of to say.

"I'm sure Neal and Peter will be relieved," said Jones. "I know I am."

"I can't agree more," said Diana.

A month later, Peter and Neal were recovering and were back at work. Neal still visited Claire, watching movies and playing Goldfish long into the evening.

_**The end**_

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and for reading this fanfic. Review please.**


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